Georgia's Aspirational Guidelines

The City Ethics Model Ethics Code includes as an aspirational code the American Society for Professional Administration's (ASPA) Code of Ethics. This is highly unusual, but not unprecedented. One precedent is the Georgia Municipal Association's City of Ethics program, developed in 1999.

The Georgia program requires municipalities to do two things in order to qualify. First, it must adopt a resolution establishing five ethical principles for the conduct of city officials.

• Serve others, not ourselves
• Use resources with efficiency and economy
• Treat all people fairly
• Use the power of our position for the well-being of our constituents
• Create an environment of honesty, openness, and integrity

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Second, cities must adopt an ethics ordinance that defines terms, enumerates permissible and impermissible activities, and includes due process provisions for respondents and punishment provisions for violators. Unfortunately, the recommended model is the International Municipal Lawyers Association (IMLA) code (attached; see below) which, although complete and highly professional, is extremely complex and comprehensive. Only lawyers can work with it.

Georgia's aspirational principles, for the most part, cannot be turned into laws (the exceptions are creating an open environment, which takes the form of freedom of information laws, and service to others, not oneself, which is the essence of ethics codes). They do, however, provide important guidance. Without honesty and openness, without the fair treatment of citizens, a government cannot be democratic, not to mention ethical (supporting a truly democratic government is the principal ethical obligation of every municipal official). Using resources with efficiency and economy is the traditional administrative principle: including it as an ethical principle reminds administrators that doing their job conscientiously and professionally is acting ethically, since they have a fiduciary responsibility to the citizens of their town. The only unnecessary principle is the fourth: using one's power and position for the well-being of constituents is nearly the same as serving others, not oneself.

Even these few aspirational principles are important to reminding the public what they can expect from their government officials and employees, and reminding the officials and employees what they should be aspiring to. Municipal ethics is not all about catching officials putting their own interests ahead of the public. That's the negative side of municipal ethics. The positive side of municipal ethics is acting respectfully, fairly, competently, and honestly, fulfilling one's obligations to the public even when your other obligations do not conflict with them.

The ASPA code provisions are more detailed and, therefore, provide more guidance, but it is a good thing that Georgia's municipal association required inclusion of these principles for Cities of Ethics. It lists 173 municipalities as Cities of Ethics as of August 2006. May their officials aspire to the principles they've agreed to.

Robert Wechsler
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics